How to Get Rid of Flies at the Hot Dog Cart
It’s that time of year again. The flies are back.
I don’t know about you but the black flies are especially thick right now. I HATE flies.
There is nothing worse than serving up a beautiful, tasty hot dog and having a fly walk across it as you hand it to the customer. AAAARGH!!!
Yes, the customer realizes that we are outdoors and kind of expects stuff like this but still… It makes my blood boil. I want to kill ’em all!
Unfortunately that’s impossible, so the next best thing is to somehow keep them away from your cart. Check this out…
Last summer a Hot Dog Profits Reader told me about a trick that she uses at her cart. She fills a baggie half full of water and adds four or five pennies. Then she hangs two or three of these sparkly contraptions from her umbrella. You can even lay them on horizontal surfaces.
The theory is that the sunlight reflecting off the water and coins “bugs” the crap out of flies due to their multi lens eye system.
I tried it at my own cart and it seemed to work pretty well.
How about you Slinger? What is your solution for controlling flies at the hot dog cart?
Let us know in the comments!
-Steve
Wipe down your the sides of you cart with Pine-sol. Flies and bugs don”t like the smell so they stay away.
Good tip Jimbalaya!
No problem here with flies. A prevailing NW breeze seems to keep most bugs away. My biggest problem is Bees! Mostly yellow jackets and yellow faced hornets. Bumble bees too, but they don’t bother us at all. Does your penny trick work on bees too?
It should. Try it and let us know Robin.
I have also heard that it looks like a hornets nest to the fly. if you put a penny in the bag solo
OK, yes.
Flies think it’s a hornets nest, and really want to avoid it with all those shinny hornets all over it,
Makes sense…
Has anyone used this? Take a one/two liter bottle and cut off the top where it widens then turn over the top and slam into the bottom bottle and place some sweetened water or some other attractant such as cola into the bottom bottle? I also smear on the top portion to get their attention and they eventually fly down into the bottom part.
Works in my back yard. You may find this on youtube as a remedy.
Cool. I’ll have to try that George!
At Harbour Freight [a cool guys store] here in Az. They sell an electric fly swatter. Touch em and they POP, then drop to the ground. Its a lot of fun in between customers.
I actually tested that thing. With my index finger. Not one of my smartest moves. I got quite a burn and smoke came off my finger. Hurt like hell. So, yes – it works!
Hi Steve. I lived in Thailand several years ago. The street vendors hang used CDs, and DVDs from strings over their food. A vendor told me that the flies hate the light pattern. I trips them out man! I tried it. It seemed to work OK!
Very cool! Thanks Greg!
I would avoid hanging any kind of a trap, cause that definintely wouldent make a customer hungry to see a bunch of dead flies in a trap at their eatery..blech
Right on Lisa. Yuck.
I used to work in restaurants and they would have outward pointing fans that repelled insects that tried to get in when the back door was opened. Maybe a similar device can be adapted for use on a hot dog cart.
Maybe. I mounted a small fan to my umbrella pole pointing right at my face. Nice in hot weather. And maybe a bug getter-awayer too!
Cut a few 2 or 3 liter soda bottles in bottom half of cut bottle. Put 2 cups warm water 118-128 degrees F in the bottles, add 3 tablespoons sugar and one packet dry yeast. Stir.
Invert top half into bottom half and tape the two bottles together all the way around the seam. Leave the inverted neck open so flies and mosquitoes can crawl in and drown.
You can put it out of sight and the flying pests will find it. Put away from the food cart to draw them away and drown them.
Clean and refill as needed.
We put them out in the garden to reduce their populations there as well. They are attracted to the CO2 the sugar yeast puts off. That is how they are attracted to us as well. We give off CO2 through our skin, not just our lungs.
That is awesome Ron! Thanks.